Thrilling Thursday

Just a heads up...I left early today to celebrate my 5th grader winning an award.  After lunch, Mrs. M-M followed my plans that are outlined below.

The students began their day by completing the Thursday portion of the vocabulary sheet for their word of the week, decrease.  Then, they looked at this week's puzzles and posted their guesses in the comment section.  After the announcements, we switched for math.

Math began with a long division, word problem, warm up.  Then, we reviewed last night's hoemwork.  After that, we began our rotations.

During the small group lesson we defined and identified lines of symmetry.  During math with a partner, the students played a board game to practice identifying and naming points, lines, line segments, and rays.  During the technology portion, the students completed a session of Xtra Math and then played an online game called, Shape Shoot Symmetry.

In between the second and third rotations, the students enjoyed lunch and outdoor recess.

Students were given a symmetry worksheet to complete for homework tonight.

After math, the students did a writing lesson about revising their personal narrative drafts to include transitional words and phrases.

Then they went to music with Mrs. Graf.

When they returned to class they worked independently and met in guided reading groups.

First, the read a non-fiction text about Hernando DeSoto, and circled unknown words and marked places they thought were surprising or confusing.  After that, they wrote a paragraph about the effects of the Colombian Exchange.  FInally, they continued working on their opinion piece about plastic straws.

Guided reading groups:

All groups met with Mrs. M-M and reviewed the unknown words and sections of text they found surprising/confusing in the essay about Hernando De Soto.  Then, they worked together, in group, to identify and discuss examples of cause and effect.

The students ended their day with a social studies lesson.  They listened to, and discussed, the book Encounter, by Jane Yolen.  This tells the story of Christpoher Columbus's exploration from the Natives point of view.